:devil:Holding Hot Marbles:devil:

[Pfox_64]

Ok now i can do the flower thing in the marble and get it somewhat round, but how do u get it perfectly round after u take off the punty?

[glasshead]

melt off the punty scar. hold the marble with claws or if you dont have any then put the marble in a graphite mold with handle and carefully melt off the scar without tipping the mold too much. if you dont have claws or a mold then try and make due with tweezers

[medicatedMELTDOWN]

if you dont even have a marble mold it isnt worth trying to get round so just say fuck it.........since it sounds like you dont have a mold

but with practice you can get your puntys to leave basically nothing

[glasshead]

making a round marble is totally possible without a mold! i hope you meant round as in the punty scar. but even then, it can be done with tweezers

[rumplephorskin]

:rollin if you dont even have a marble mold it isnt worth trying to get round so just say fuck it......... :rollin :rollin :rollin
DUDE !!!!!!!!! your attitude sucks !!!!!!!! some people actually make nice mabrbles without ever using a mold. It is very possible if you have even a decent understanding of glass and how it moves to make just about anything you like. Ive always thought that the molds were kind of a crutch for beginners :rollin

[medicatedMELTDOWN]

i was talking PERFECTLY round........id love to see you make a marble without a mold and then it be round enough to go down one of Bandhu's marble runs..............hes who taught me...but thanks for laughing at me :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin

[Brian Newman]

What does surface tension do If not make things round? Punty back and forth and just give it time to pull itself round. What do you mean by perfectly? Is the earth perfectly round? Because proportionally it is rounder than any marble.
Where can I get me an industry standard marble run and what is it?

[rumplephorskin]

A marble run is like a roller coaster track made of pyrex rods. P fox; for what its worth; its a poor artist that blames his tools for his shortcomings; so dont listen to meltdown (I think he got a little too medicated). There is no such thing as "perfect". Just go for it and make your marbles as round as you possibly can. If you heat the tip of your punty and roll it on your carbon pad before you attach it to the marble than you will find that it is easier to break off when youre done whilst leaving less (if any) scrap material to pick off the surface of the marble.

[PyroChixRock]

Here's some info on a marble run

http://www.thegldg.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1533

[Pfox_64]

Well by perfect i was meaning like the marble's kids play with from wallmart those things are pretty dam close to perfect. yes i have no molds and actually on my 3rd attempt at a flower marble actually got it pretty dam round even tho i F*$#@D up the flower and got it there by hand. i think im doin pretty good for a beginner but got a few thing to figure out maybe ill get a pic here tomorrow. BTW What exactly is cold puntying... i think thats how u would say that... and how do you so easily remove the punty? peace out :peace:

[rumplephorskin]

The cold seal is when you make sure that one of the two pieces youre sticking together is very hot and the other is just warm(like maybe half way between room temp and flowing). A good way to go is to get your punty nice and hot and then heat your marble lightly and stick the punty to it. It might serve you well to go back and practice making REALLY round marbles out of clear and get used to successfully passing the marbles back and forth between two puntys without leaving any unintended glass behind. This is a game where quality counts and youll be way better off working out your form and THEN going for decoration. Dont ever be afraid to take your time and work out your fine points. One good clear marble is worth a dozen off center. lumpy yet colorfull ones.

[Chris Carlson]

i blow on my punty rod right before stickin to marble to develop a "skin". helps for cold punty.

[fumalicious]

Excellent Chris!!!! That is what I was exactly going to post. :D I learned that from a soft glass class I took YEARS ago... at the time I had never realized the gradient of heat throughout the thickness of the glass whether it was tubing or rod... the "skin concept" was huge for me.


And just to add... you can make a marble round without a mold- if you have all day to spend on a marble (sure you'll get better but it'll take a while no matter what). BUT you can make a marble PERFECTLY round WITH a mold... And I'll tell you- the first major marble show I went to I had a collector start looking at my highest priced marbles I had there- and before he even picked up a marble to look at, he spun it on the stand and watched the reflection of the light on the surface as it turned to make sure it was ROUND- not "almost" round (and NO punty marks!!!).... why should this guy spend a bunch of loot on a marble that isn't even round when there are plenty out there that are? IT MATTERS to people who collect- not all of them- but not caring enough to make it perfect when you can will hold you back one way or another imo.

[Pfox_64]

Well i got the flower concept down, i would get bored with just plain clear, oh and btw if its off from round u can always add a glass loop to it and make it a pendant! hmm ill have to try the skin idea and see how it works out. Thankz Peace Out:peace:

[Pfox_64]

Oh yeah while im online, whats the best way to hold a marble in the kiln without it rolling around while your annealing it?

[rumplephorskin]

You can take a piece of rod and make a square or a triangle or something like that and lay it on the floor of your kiln. I usually just roll em toward the back of the kiln. Seriously tho fox; you really should considder taking a session or 2 and working on the clear marbles till you really have the whole form thing down. A little patience goes a long way. I've had 14 or 15 students at this point and I do know what Im talking about. Best of luck either way
Cheers
Jack